The Mystery of the Helicopter Flying Around the Pentagon Before the Attack There on 9/11

A mysterious helicopter was seen flying near the Pentagon in the minutes before the attack there on September 11, 2001. Several witnesses have described seeing the helicopter, which circled the Pentagon and then apparently landed for a brief period on the helipad, near where the building was subsequently hit. It then flew off very shortly before the attack took place. And yet there has never been any public acknowledgement of this incident, or any official explanation of what the helicopter was doing at the Pentagon at that time.

While interviewing one of the witnesses to the incident, however, a Navy historian revealed that the helicopter belonged to the United States Park Police, and, the historian said, had been instructed to intercept the aircraft that was on a crash-course for the Pentagon.

Official accounts have claimed that Park Police helicopters only took to the air after the Pentagon was hit, to provide assistance in response to the attack. However, evidence casts doubt on this version of events. A woman who was dating one of the Park Police helicopter pilots has written an account of her experiences on September 11, which clearly supports the contention that the helicopters took off before the Pentagon attack occurred. And there are several contradictions between the various accounts describing the official narrative, indicating this narrative may, at least partly, have been fabricated. Furthermore, it appears there could have been a deliberate attempt to cover up the true details of what happened. The Navy historian in fact told the eyewitness he interviewed: "Don't tell anyone about that story. ... We don't want the press to get this."

WITNESSES SAW HELICOPTER BY THE PENTAGON
Several individuals have recalled seeing a helicopter flying near the Pentagon just before the attack there on September 11. Shortly after the attack occurred, a senior Air Force officer at the Pentagon told CNN's Chris Plante that he had seen "a helicopter circle the building," which had "disappeared behind the building where the helicopter landing zone is ... and he then saw [a] fireball go into the sky" when the Pentagon was hit. [1] Jennifer Reichert had been stuck in traffic on the road in front of the Pentagon. She described that "a helicopter [took] off from the heliport at the Pentagon." Then, "Minutes--maybe seconds--later," she heard the aircraft coming toward the Pentagon and then felt the explosion of the crash. [2]

Jeffrey Mark Parsons, an assistant chief patrol agent with the United States Border Patrol, saw the helicopter from a window on the 17th floor of his hotel, the Marriott Residence Inn in Arlington. Two or three minutes before the Pentagon was hit, Parsons recalled, he saw a blue and white helicopter flying in at "a weird angle" and circling "between the hotel and the Pentagon, going toward the landing pad [at the Pentagon] where that airliner ultimately hit." Parsons said he thought the helicopter "landed on the pad." He recognized the helicopter as a Huey from the noise it made, as he had flown Hueys and knew they made "a very distinct sound." [3]

HELICOPTER BELONGED TO THE PARK POLICE
The identity of this helicopter was revealed by John Darrell Sherwood, a Navy historian who interviewed Parsons about the incident. The helicopter's pilot had previously described what happened to a Marine Corps historian who was a colleague of Sherwood's. According to Sherwood, the helicopter was a Huey belonging to the Park Police that "had been directed to try to intercept that airline" that subsequently hit the Pentagon. The helicopter had been "in the area" of the Pentagon, when the pilot received a call telling him, "Try to intercept this plane, try to distract the plane, try to do something to, you know, prevent the plane from going into the Pentagon." The helicopter had then gone "to try to distract" the approaching aircraft. Although the helicopter had flown away from the Pentagon before the building was hit, its pilot "saw the plane go in, and then the next thing he started doing is medevacing people out of there," according to Sherwood. [4]

The Park Police Aviation Unit is located in Anacostia Park in southeast Washington, DC, across the Potomac River from the Pentagon. It has two Bell 412 helicopters, which are a modern version of the Huey. [5] These helicopters are colored blue and white, like the helicopter Parsons described. [6] The aviation unit's missions include the provision of aviation support for law enforcement, medical evacuation ("medevac"), search and rescue, and presidential and dignitary security. [7]

HELICOPTERS TOLD TO RESPOND TO PLANE HEADING FOR WASHINGTON
Sherwood's claim that at least one of the Park Police Aviation Unit's Hueys was launched prior to the attack on the Pentagon, and was instructed to intercept an approaching aircraft, has been supported by the account of Stephanie Hughes, a nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. At the time of the 9/11 attacks, Hughes was dating Sergeant Keith Bohn, one of the Park Police's helicopter pilots.

On her personal blog, Hughes has written that on the morning of September 11, she was driving to the aviation unit to meet Bohn for a late breakfast after he finished work, having just been on the night shift. On the way, she heard reports on the radio about the first plane crashing into the World Trade Center. When she arrived at the unit, she saw its two helicopters taking off, but assumed that Bohn, having completed his shift, was not flying in either of them.

But, Hughes recalled, "When I got inside the hangar, he was not there." The only person around was the aircraft maintenance technician, who told Hughes that the unit had "just got a call to respond to the White House, that a plane was headed to Washington, DC, and that they were to go airborne." Bohn had left Hughes "a quickly scribbled note" that said, "Got called into the air, there is another plane headed this way, go home and wait for me to call." This clearly appears to have been before the Pentagon was hit. At that time, Hughes recalled, "CNN was on the TV and it was showing video of the World Trade Center." As she headed home, Hughes called her mother and sister, "to tell them what was going on, in case I was the only non-police person who knew a plane was headed to Washington, DC." After she arrived home, Hughes was "glued to the TV, and it was then [that] the Pentagon was being identified as being hit." [8]

However, official accounts told a different story to this. They made no mention of Park Police helicopters taking off to intercept a plane heading toward Washington, or flying around the Pentagon before it was attacked. Instead, these accounts claimed that the aviation unit only launched its helicopters after the Pentagon was hit.

AVIATION UNIT RESPONDED TO THE PENTAGON ATTACK
The morning of September 11, the Park Police Aviation Unit was holding a large training event, in preparation for the upcoming meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington. [9] Personnel there learned of the first attack in New York from television reports, but initially thought it was an accident. But when they saw the live coverage of the second plane hitting the WTC at 9:03 a.m., they realized it was a deliberate attack. [10]

Shortly after 9:37 a.m., when the Pentagon was hit, the aviation unit's "aircraft crash phone" started to ring. The crash phone is a direct communications line from the control tower at Washington's Reagan National Airport, which enables the aviation unit to respond quickly to incidents at the airport. Sergeant Ronald Galey, one of the unit's helicopter pilots, has said that he answered the call. The caller alerted the unit to the crash. [11]

According to official accounts, the Park Police Aviation Unit then became one of the first agencies to respond to the attack on the Pentagon. Its two Hueys were quickly prepared for takeoff, and then launched and arrived at the Pentagon within minutes. [12]

One of the helicopters, which has the call sign "Eagle I," was piloted by Galey. Also onboard were rescue technician Sergeant John Marsh and rescue team officer John Dillon. Flying in the other helicopter, "Eagle II," were Bohn and his copilot, Sergeant Kenneth Burchell, along with the aviation unit commander Lieutenant Philip Cholak and assistant commander Sergeant Bernard Stasulli, and two Defense Department medics who had been attending the training event: Keith Kettell and Jason Kepp. [13]

Eagle I reached the Pentagon within four minutes of the unit receiving the alert and Eagle II arrived two minutes later, according to Rotor & Wing magazine. [14] Upon arrival at the Pentagon, Eagle II landed to conduct medical evacuations while Eagle I circled overhead. [15]

That the Park Police helicopters were at the Pentagon after the attack there is beyond doubt. They were caught on film and witnessed by reporters. For example, at 9:48 a.m., CNN's Chris Plante reported from the Pentagon, "There is a Park Police helicopter overhead." [16] And at 10:11 a.m., Dave Statter of CBS affiliate Channel 9 reported that medics at the Pentagon were taking a man suffering burn injuries "to the U.S. Park Police Eagle helicopter. ... The Eagle helicopter from [the] Park Police is landing, taking this man to the hospital." [17] Accounts only conflict over whether at least one of these helicopters had also been flying near the Pentagon in the minutes before the attack.

A POSSIBLE COVER-UP
Although official accounts have made no mention of a Park Police helicopter flying near the Pentagon before it was attacked, or being instructed to intercept a hostile aircraft approaching Washington, it is possible that this is because attempts have been made to suppress this information.

Supporting this contention is the fact that after Jeffrey Mark Parsons recalled seeing the helicopter during his interview with John Darrell Sherwood, and after Sherwood then revealed that the helicopter belonged to the Park Police, Sherwood told Parsons to keep quiet about the incident. He said: "Don't tell anyone about that story because that's one of our, I think that's one of the best stories that's going to come out of this. We don't want the press to get this."

Sherwood also seemed uncomfortable about answering why the helicopter was flying near the Pentagon before the attack. After Sherwood explained that the helicopter's pilot had been instructed to try and intercept the aircraft that subsequently hit the Pentagon, Parsons asked him, "Then they knew it was headed toward the Pentagon before it actually hit the Pentagon, then?" Sherwood immediately changed the subject and talked about a fighter jet that had been flying in from North Carolina. Finally, he said, "So, I guess that helicopter swung around, but, by the time he got around the plane was already into the building." [18]

CONTRADICTIONS IN OFFICIAL ACCOUNTS
Casting doubt on the official narrative is the fact that there are a number of contradictions in the various accounts in which that narrative has been put forward. For example, as previously mentioned, Ronald Galey has claimed he was still on the ground at the aviation unit at the time the Pentagon was hit, and he was therefore able to answer the call on the aircraft crash phone in which the crash was reported. [19] However, Galey has given conflicting accounts about what the air traffic controller at Reagan Airport, David Walsh, supposedly told him in the call. [20]

In November 2001, Galey recalled Walsh saying, "We have a 757 down somewhere in the vicinity of the 14th Street Bridge," which goes over the Potomac River, near the Pentagon. [21] Later that month, Galey gave a slightly different account, recalling that Walsh said the control tower had "lost a 757 somewhere in the vicinity of the Pentagon." [22] But in January 2002, Galey said that Walsh specifically mentioned a plane hitting the Pentagon. Walsh supposedly said that "they had a 757 go into the Pentagon and they needed us to respond to the incident." [23]

And then, later that year, Galey gave a very different account. He recalled Walsh saying, "We have a 757 down on the north end of the airport," referring to Reagan Airport, which is about a mile away from the Pentagon. [24] Galey's fellow pilot, Keith Bohn, had earlier given a similar account. In November 2001, he said that in the initial phone call the aviation unit received about the attack, it was told there was "an aircraft down at the end of the runway at National Airport." [25]

A possible explanation for these conflicting accounts is that Galey had taken off before the Pentagon attack took place and therefore did not answer the call on the aircraft crash phone. Perhaps because he was ordered to keep quiet about his actual experiences from that time, Galey had been uncertain over what he should say instead, and so gave differing accounts when interviewed.

CONFLICTING DESCRIPTIONS OF TAKEOFFS
Also casting doubt on the accuracy of the official narrative is the fact that there have been conflicting accounts of which of the Park Police Aviation Unit's Hueys took off first, and how long it took for the two helicopters to launch after the unit was called about the crash.

According to most accounts, Eagle I was the first of the helicopters to take off. [26] Eagle II reportedly took longer to prepare for takeoff, as a few minutes were required to install a mass casualty kit, which would allow it to carry four patients instead of two, and so it took off after Eagle I. [27] However, a couple of months after 9/11, Galey said in an interview that Eagle II in fact took off first, while Eagle I, which he had been piloting, "launched right after." [28]

According to National Park Service reports, Eagle I took off less than two minutes after the aviation unit received the alert over the crash phone and Eagle II followed it about a minute later. [29] However, the Arlington County After-Action Report on the emergency response to the Pentagon attack stated that Eagle I took off at "approximately 9:43 a.m.," five or six minutes after the attack occurred, and "Eagle II launched eight minutes later at 9:51 a.m." [30]

A possible reason for these conflicting accounts is that the Park Police helicopters took off earlier than was being claimed, but the unit's personnel had been told to keep quiet about this. Those personnel may have been uncertain about what they should instead be saying publicly, and so their false accounts of the order of events sometimes contradicted each other.

AVIATION UNIT DECIDED TO 'GET READY' AFTER SECOND WTC ATTACK
There is an additional problem with the official narrative of the Park Police Aviation Unit's actions on September 11. As previously mentioned, when personnel at the unit saw the live television coverage of the second plane hitting the WTC, they immediately realized it was a deliberate attack. At that point, according to Galey, "We just started talking, 'Hey, we'd better get ready.'" Also, Galey has recalled, "we started some further discussion as to what other potential targets might be." [31]

Galey said that when the Pentagon was hit, at 9:37 a.m., he "heard a tremendous explosion" and then saw smoke rising from the vicinity of the Pentagon. [32] He claimed he did not realize the smoke was coming specifically from the Pentagon, only from "some military installation over there." All the same, Galey said, when aviation unit personnel heard the explosion, "We just knew what it was." He said, "I mean we've all been expecting something like this, for an attack of some sort." [33]

And yet, according to the official narrative, the Park Police's two Hueys did not take off to defend potential targets in Washington, or at least keep watch for any approaching hostile aircraft, in the 34 minutes between the second attack in New York and the attack on the Pentagon. This in spite of the fact that the unit's personnel had been "expecting something like" the Pentagon attack to happen, and had decided, "we'd better get ready," right after seeing the second WTC tower being hit on television.

WHY WAS A HELICOPTER FLYING NEAR THE PENTAGON?
As we can see, there is clear evidence that one of the Park Police's helicopters was flying close to the Pentagon, and possibly landing there briefly, very shortly before the attack there took place, and that attempts have been made to suppress this fact.

This leads to important questions that have so far been unaddressed. If, as John Darrell Sherwood and Stephanie Hughes indicated, one, or both, of the Park Police's helicopters were ordered to intercept the suspicious aircraft that was approaching Washington, who issued that order? And why did the helicopter fly away from the Pentagon before the attack there? Might there have been a different reason why the helicopter was flying near the Pentagon? If so, what was it?

Also, why has there been no official acknowledgement of the helicopter's presence near the Pentagon just before the attack there? No official explanation has been put forward as to what the helicopter was doing. And yet surely the authorities would have wanted to publicize what was apparently a courageous attempt at defending the Pentagon from the imminent attack? Why, then, does it appear that there has been a cover-up of this incident?

Clearly, this matter should be investigated further. To begin with, records pertaining to it need to be made public. These would include any unreleased transcripts and recordings of interviews with the relevant individuals, such as Park Police Aviation Unit personnel, the person who ordered the helicopter toward the Pentagon, and additional witnesses who saw the helicopter near the Pentagon. Pilots, crew members, and others connected with the aviation unit could also now be re-interviewed about their experiences on 9/11.

Logs and other records from the aviation unit might also clarify what happened. And the U.S. government reportedly has around 80 unreleased video tapes relating to the Pentagon attack. [34] If these were made public, perhaps one or more of them would show the helicopter and reveal exactly when it first arrived at the Pentagon.

As well as casting light on the mystery of the helicopter flying around the Pentagon, these records might reveal other important details relating to the Pentagon attack. Such information would surely take us closer to knowing the truth about 9/11.

I think the answer to that is due to questions that are begged if the pentagon officially recognizes any effort to stop the plane. First it would mean they were tracking it. Second, if some official is proved to have given orders for the Park Police Air unit to try and "stop" the plane, it screams out the question as to why no alarms or evacuations were ordered. And why no other means was used to stop the plane. I know we are told that the Pentagon does not have Anti-Aircraft missiles, but are we to believe there are no defensive guns or defensive measure what so ever around the Pentagon other than our absent air force?

Those were the first thoughts that popped into my mind. Something to think about anyway.

I still think there must be other reasons for the cover-up--though I don't know what these might be--as official accounts have openly admitted that it was thought a suspicious plane was heading toward Washington, DC, well before the Pentagon attack took place.

For example, in the 9/11 Commission Report (p. 26), it describes how at 9:21 a.m., the FAA's Boston Center called NEADS and said, incorrectly, that Flight 11 was still airborne and heading toward Washington. This information was apparently what led NEADS to scramble fighters from Langley Air Force Base and "head them towards the Washington area."

Also, on p. 9 of the report, it mentions that FAA controllers were aware of a fast-moving target closing in on Washington a few minutes before the Pentagon attack occurred. The report states, "At 9:32, controllers at the Dulles Terminal Radar Approach Control 'observed a primary radar target tracking eastbound at a high rate of speed.'" Then, "At 9:34, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport advised the Secret Service of an unknown aircraft heading in the direction of the White House."

So this unexplained incident is yet another reason why we need a new and unrestrained investigation of the 9/11 attacks.

What is THIS plane flying over DC during the time of the Pentagon attack? In this clip you can hear the explosion from FL 77 impacting the Pentagon, unless this is a secondary explosion. You also see them looking up at a low-flying plane.

This video is most significant. People react visibly to the sound of an explosion (presumably at the Pentagon) and then, several seconds LATER, react to the sound of what is obviously a jet airliner flying very low overhead.

(a) If the explosion was the sound of the plane described as AA77 hitting the Pentagon, then what was the identity of the large jet flying overhead afterwards? No other large very low-flying jet other than AA77 has been talked about in the vicinity of the Pentagon at approximately the same time as the impact. Or...

(b) if the low-flying jet that people were reacting to was (the plane described as) AA77, then what caused the explosion seconds before?

We can only go on what the evidence in the video tells us, which is not a lot, but of huge potential significance.

If only we could determine the exact time and the exact location of Porter Goss in this video... this would be of enormous value here. Since we know the elapsed time between the explosion and the sound of the jet going overhead (approximately 20 seconds), then, making allowances for the speed of sound (re. the explosion), the speed of the jet, and the way people are pointing to the sky (everyone is looking towards the left), we could determine the approximate trajectory of the plane in relation to the Pentagon. We could also determine, from close examination of the Sun angle, from the shadows, the time of day (we know the date!), and the from approximate direction the people are looking as the plane approaches, It *might* be possible to either confirm or eliminate AA77 as the source of the jet engine noise.

If Goss was being filmed in the vicinity of the Pentagon sometime around 9-37 am, then what we have here is (1) explosion, followed some 20 seconds later by the sound of a large commercial jet flying very low overhead, or very nearby.. If this is the case, then someone's got A LOT of explaining to do, and not just people who support the official story.

The footage was taken approximately an hour after the Pentagon attack [ Source: Farmer ] and you don' t have the slightest clue what type of plane is flying overhead. We see nothing. Besides, do you actually believe a 'flyover' would include a tour of Capitol Hill? Do you even know CIT's position on the matter? I suggest you inform yourself.

You have ZERO evidence for flyover. There is MASSIVE evidence of a 757 (AA 77) impacting at the Pentagon on 9/11. It's really depressing to see these desperate canards trotted out to save the slowly fading rubbish Pentagon research from finally becoming extinct. What an embarrassment and what a horrible waste of precious time.

And another thing: consider the source of this hoax. Again, it's WAC NJ. Kickstarting ridiculous hoaxes is what they do all the time. (If Zarmanov isn't rambling on about 9/11 numerology and how the Simpsons are in on it)

When I first became aware of the lies of 9/11, and was watching and reading everything I could get my hands on, I remember watching 9/11 Eyewitness, the footage that was shot from a locked down camera across the river. At a point after both towers had been hit but neither has yet collapsed, a helicopter approaches the scene from the right side of the frame. Flying through the smoke from the towers, it appears to pause when it gets directly above, and then several bright flashes of light from the helicopter penetrate the smoke. A second or two later as the helicopter begins to emerge from the smoke cover, the first tower collapses. This has always seemed very odd to me and I have since looked for any information about the identity of the helicopter and the unusual flashes immediately preceding the collapse. Was it a signal? Was it the remote arming of explosives in the towers? Try as I might, I have found no information about this helicopter or speculation on these unusual flashes does anyone have any information about this or links to information?

The testimony of numerous witnesses in this incident implies an obvious cover up. Cover ups involve hiding or even destroying evidence, or threatening people/media who may release such evidence. What are the purpose of cover-ups? Universally, to protect people, usually those in a position of privilege or influence, from prosecution and possible punishment.. as a result of anything covering the spectrum of malfeasance from simple incompetence, all the way to outright culpability. (And, as far as we know, not a single solitary person received *any* form of punishment, as a result of *any* form of "incompetence" as regards the events of 9/11). If this (and other 9/11 related cover ups) had nothing to do with "incompetence", then what is left? Culpability?

However, as has been insistently drilled into our individual and collective psyche, on a 24/7 basis, now for almost 10 years, the *SOLE* culprits, to the exclusion of all others, were "militant Muslim" personnel... they did it ALL! Everything! So, who was being protected as regards this obvious cover up of the activity of Park Police helicopters? More militant Muslim personnel, of unknown identity?

Yeah, right. Gimme a goddamned break ...... *rolls eyes*.........

Or, are Americans (and much of the West) so comfortable in our decades-long pre-conditoned hatred and distrust of dark skinned (specifically Islamic) Middle Easterners that they are prepared to abandon common sense in favor of massaging their comfort zones?

If the presence of the helicopter was covered up, perhaps the simplest explanation is that acknowledging its presence would further undermine the official story that the attack on the Pentagon came as a surprise.

This is substantial content. It should have a bearing on April's court case, and many other matters. A real bomb shell, considering the controversy, even within the official 9-11 investigation itself, surrounding how the military responded to the alleged attacks.

Alan Wallace, a firefighter assigned to the heliport, gives this account:

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was assigned to the Heliport Station at the Pentagon. I was assigned there the day before as well. I should have been assigned to the Pentagon Fire Station all that week.

Fort Myer fire fighters were taking a week-long class on Air Field Fire Fighting, given at the classrooms Building 219. Mark Skipper, Dennis Young, and I had already had the training. Mike Thayer, John Pine, and Ronnie Willett also had had the training. Thayer, Pine and Willett were schedule off on 9/11. Chief George Thompson was off because his wife was ill.

Mark Skipper, Dennis Young, and I were the three crew members assigned to the Pentagon Fire Station on the morning of 9/11. We arrived there about 0730. The Fire Station was new and we had only been using it since January or February of 2001. We also had a new crash truck assigned there, an Emergency One Titan 3000. It carried 1,500 gallons of water and 200 gallons of 3% foam. Our first helicopter flight was around 10 AM. But we were expecting President George W. Bush to land in Marine One around 12 Noon, returning from Jacksonville, Florida. (He had actually left from the Pentagon the day before.) Needless to say, neither flight arrived at the Pentagon that day because of the terrorist attacks.

He mentions a 10 am scheduled helicopter arrival that never took place. Surely there is a record for that to be found.

He doesn't mention any other helicopter activity just before impact. So he, Mark Skipper, Dennis Young, Sean Boger and Jackie Kidd would all have had to modify their truthful statements to reflect no knowledge of a landing or even activity around 9:30am. If anyone knew about helicopters in the area these folks would have. Certainly if it had landed.

The whole business about eating corn flakes, reading a book about opera, watching the TV for only 10 minutes after WTC2 is hit strikes me as a bit odd. He had no reason to give up his ringside seat to go "mess around" with the new truck. GW Bush wasn't due there until noon.

I would like to add that witness testimony can be very imprecise and might morph over time. Cover up isn't the only explanation, fallibility of the human mind is equally likely in the case of e.g. Ronald Galey. Best is to get corroboration and hard evidence to double check.

This is interesting, too:

"Although the helicopter had flown away from the Pentagon before the building was hit, its pilot "saw the plane go in, and then the next thing he started doing is medevacing people out of there"

Corroborates the physical evidence and the other witnesses.

The Pentagon should have been evacuated, because many key people expected an attack to occur there anyway, including DPS.

is clearly getting two separate incidents confused after rereading his interview with Parsons. On pages 49-51, he mentions that the PP helicopter tried to intercept the same airliner that Billy Hutchison and the DC Air National Guard(the planes returning from a training mission in North Carolina) was directed to intercept. We know from ATC tapes and radar data that this occurred after 10:30. It's clear that Parsons is talking about MUSCLE6, the Huey that landed and departed before the Pentagon strike, and Sherwood is talking about Eagle1 or Eagle2, both of which were on the ground when Flight 77 hit, according to radar.

Why don't Skipper, Wallace and Boger talk about it arriving and departing?

Why does interviewer Sherwood warn witness Parsons not to talk about this?

Sherwood must be an idiot or senile to confuse a fighter intercept with an unarmed helicopter. This make zero sense because at 9:27 (arrival of Muscle6 #5175 at the Pentagon west face) no one could predict where the unidentified target was headed. At this time "AA77" was about 40 miles away from the Pentagon. To have directed Muscle6 to intercept, someone would have to know where "AA77" was going.

No, this just won't add up. Muscle6 left the Pentagon area at 9:32 and headed up river away from the approaching unidentified target. Up around the CIA HQ it reappeared and went on a lazy holiday trip back down to the west to have a look at the scene.

Not exactly sure, but I would guess it had nothing to do with AA77, at least not until it turned back south after departing the Pentagon nearly 12 miles up the Potomac River. It left Andrews at 9:19, flew a standard VFR route to the Pentagon before departing and using another standard route to leave the area. It's not only obvious from the flightpath and ATC communications that it didn't try to intercept an airliner, but Sherwood said it was a Park Police helicopter that was directed to intercept the airliner. MUSCLE6 was not a Park Police helicopter.

Has anyone ever asked the employees at the Pentagon helipad about it? If it was a routine flight to pick someone up or drop someone off, why would they mention it?

Sherwood said, "Don't tell anyone about that story because that's one of our, I think that's one of the best stories that's going to come out of this. We don't want the press to get this." Sounds like to me he doesn't want anyone else fromthe press to scoop the story and publish it before he gets a chance to do it. He does say later in the interview that he proposed making a monograph of the 24 best stories, like the helicopter pilot, to be published later.

I think you're confusing what Sherwood meant about the DC National Guard attempted intercept. He's not confusing fighters with an unarmed helicopter, he is saying the PP helicopter was sent to intercept the same airliner that the F-16s were sent to intercept – Phantom United 93.

My working theory right now is that Eagle1 was asked to intercept the nonexistent United 93 that was approaching DC on the TSD. Unfortunately, Galey did not mention this in any of his interviews. The only way to prove that this happened now is to ask him or the air traffic controllers at Reagan Tower if that occurred. Or, obtain the ATC recordings from later on in the morning.

ADDIS77 wrote: "I think you're confusing what Sherwood meant about the DC National Guard attempted intercept. He's not confusing fighters with an unarmed helicopter, he is saying the PP helicopter was sent to intercept the same airliner that the F-16s were sent to intercept – Phantom United 93."

TSD is a computer generated possible track. Surely ATC Creedon at Reagan National or others within radar coverage would have looked at primary returns and seen nothing headed to DC along the projected path of UA93.

You can't intercept if there is no Z point. Where were the DC Guard fighters sent to exactly and at what time?

that they would've been looking for a primary target on their radars and obviously found nothing because there was nothing to see. The concern about Phantom 93 was most likely coming from somewhere that had a TSD like the PEOC. When Billy Hutchison checked in with Reagan Tower after he departed Andrews, he was told he was sent to check out an airplane coming down the river. Reagan responded leisurely by saying that information "came from your source, not ours." Bully1 flew North for a short distance up the Potomac before turning south and heading back to Andrews. Hutchison claimed subsequently in interviews that it was United 93 they were looking for. The Secret Service is who called and initiated the Andrews' response, that's where Hutchinson was getting his information from, not NORAD and not Washington TRACON.

The Andrews fighters were being directed by Washington TRACON and they were controlling differently than NORAD. Instead of using coordinates, they were using radial, distance and altitude to direct the fighters. Hutchison departed from Andrews at 10:39 and headed west towards Reagan, here's the ATC recordings:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gxEoYudBV0

The Langley fighters were still at higher altitudes taking direction from NEADS.

36 minutes after it crashed. The people he was getting his information from did not know that though. They were watching the projected 93 as it approached and landed at Reagan at 10:28.

Whether it was projected United 93 or not is irrelevant for this discussion. The point is a whole lot of people thought another hijacked aircraft was heading towards Washington, DC after American 77.

Bully1 thought so. That's heard on the ATC recordings.
CAPS1 thought so. That's heard on the ATC recordings.
Eagle2 thought so. Both the pilot and copilot said so in their interviews.
Rescue operations at the Pentagon were halted because they thought another hijacked aircraft was heading their way. This is widely documented.
Pentagon Police were evacuating people as far way as the Navy Annex because they were told another hijacked aircraft was coming their way. That's caught on video.
Two separate air traffic control facilities mentioned United 93, one of them said they had it on the TSD, at approximately 10:30. Also caught on ATC recordings.

The Langley fighters set up a Combat air patrol over Washington shortly after they arrived. they were communicating with NEADS and Washington Center because they were at higher altitudes. They were unaware of the unfolding drama with United 93 because the Secret Service was not talking to them.

To bring this conversation back to Shoestring's post, the helicopter Sherwood is talking about is Eagle2. His account of a Park Police helicopter landing at the traffic circle off the end of Memorial Bridge matches that of both the pilot and copilot. Obviously some parts of the story are incorrect because both PP helicopters were still on the ground when American 77 crashed – meaning they could not have watched an airliner crash into the side of the building.

ADDIS77 wrote: The Langley fighters set up a Combat air patrol over Washington shortly after they arrived.

Are there tapes of the ATCs talking to the three QUIT fighters while they capped DC?

Within minutes after arrival above the Pentagon Park Police pilot Galey said DCA ATC operations were shut down because of Pentagon smoke and traffic control then fell to Galey....shortly after we arrived on the scene, within five minutes of doing two or three orbits around the Pentagon, air traffic control supervisor at Reagan National said they could no longer man the tower for the smoke and gave the air traffic control responsibility to us.

This would have to be around 9:50. Another 49 crucial minutes pass before Bully1 is launched to intercept the phantom UA93.

Sorry, but something doesn't add up here. If the TSD story is to remain credible it has to fit into the timeline. What would be the expected arrival time into DCA for a down river approach from Shanksville? The Flight Explorer said 9:34.

there are tapes of them communicating with DCA, but they didn't get on the frequency until approximately 10:30. They may have been talking with ZDC before that, but I don't remember for sure, it's been several years since I listened to them.

Shortly after 10:30, DCA asked the QUIT fighters for a phone number to NEADS. This would indicate that they (Washington Approach), along with the Secret Service, were not talking to NEADS before that point. Meaning that NEADS along with their fighters were unaware of the approaching Phantom 93.

I'm not sure what the Reagan Tower has to do with Bully1, can you explain?

What I do know is that Linda Justice updated the flightplan and said United 93 was "flashing at Hagerstown" at 9:59 because she updated the flightplan from Hagerstown to DCA.

We've been over this before. I don't know how Flight Aware derives it's information or where the 9:34 time came from. United 93 was not hijacked until 9:29. Here's a link to the recording:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbyGV_yhPPI

ETA: open up your "1 ZDC 273, 272 operational manager in charge 1300-1400 UTC" file and skip forward to the 18:00 mark and listen to the recorded conversation. It's an air traffic controller calling another facility asking if they had information on American 77 because he has him in the "middle of Indiana on the TSD" despite it never coming within 100 miles of Indiana. Same thing happened to American 11, there's a conversation recorded where the controllers are talking about it being on the TSD somewhere over Illinois, I believe. The same as United 93 never being anywhere near Washington DC but it was still approaching DC on the TSD because of the flightplan update.

So you are saying (or repeating) the TSD showed that UA93 landed at DCA at 10:28, yet 11 minutes later they decide to send Bully1 up river to look for a ghost plane. Brilliant!

Is it any wonder that I and many others have zero confidence in our military?

ADDIS77 wrote: I'm not sure what the Reagan Tower has to do with Bully1, can you explain?

Only that up river quite a ways (40-60 miles) is DCA's airspace and I would expect them to be coordinating with a fighter seeking to intercept a commercial craft also in their airspace.

Something else just occurred to me. Earlier that day three aircraft deviated wildly from established entry and exit routes. So I don't see why they (ATCs, SS, or NEADS) would assume a hijacked plane (that had already indicated a bomb on board) would try to enter closed airspace, using the down river approach, instead of going straight for the White House, Capitol or any number of other targets.

that's what I'm saying because that's what clearly happened based on multiple ATC recordings, documents and interviews. I'm not sure why you would have zero confidence in the military at Andrews based on this event. They were not a air defense unit on 9/11 and they were not in the loop with NORAD or national level FAA. For the most part, all they knew was what they were watching on the news and then they got a phone call from the Secret Service asking to get fighters in the air because a hijacked aircraft is headed toward Washington coming down the river. It's not their fault they were receiving inaccurate information.

The only reason they got a fighter up as soon as they did is because one of them just returned from a training mission. They tried to send one of the other fighters returning from a training mission out earlier but he was critically low on fuel and had to land. In fact, in an interview with one of the NORAD fighter pilots, he said he was amazed that Andrews could get fighters up in the air as soon as they did because they were not an air defense unit.

By the time Bully1 got into the air, DCA, along with Dulles and Baltimore knew that there was no threat from United 93 because they were aware that its projected approach disappeared from the TSD at 10:28 and all three facilities had been watching for it using their primary radars.

I have no reason to believe they were assuming that. According to Mineta, Belger said it looked like it was using the down River approach. If you draw a straight line between Hagerstown VOR and DCA, it passes almost directly on top of the DRA. I would guess he was using that only as a reference so Mineta would have an idea of where it was at. The DRA is a very recognizable approach because of its uniqueness.